§ 11. Mr. Andy King (Rugby and Kenilworth)How many schools he estimates will benefit in the first year of the national lottery-funded out-of-school hours activities. [87207]
§ The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Chris Smith)The programme, for which the new opportunities fund has allocated £205 million, opened for applications at the end of March, and the first grants under the programme will be announced in the autumn. It is therefore too early to say how many schools will benefit this year. However, we expect that by 2001 the new opportunities fund will have funded regular out-of-school-hours activities in at least half of all secondary schools, a quarter of all primary schools and half of all special schools. That breaks down as approximately 10,000 schools in the UK. In addition, by 2002, the fund will have committed funds to summer school projects which will provide summer school places for an extra 250,000 pupils.
§ Mr. KingI thank my right hon. Friend for that welcome announcement. I have visited such clubs, as I am sure have all hon. Members. I recently visited Bridges in Brownsover in my constituency, which is a first class club, where all the children are benefiting significantly from the opportunity to socialise and learn with other children, and their parents have the security of knowing that their children are safe and in a proper environment both before and after school. Will my right hon. Friend 12 ensure that such opportunities will be made available across the country, and that the new opportunities fund will be asked to provide good quality information to all education authorities on how to access that fund?
§ Mr. SmithYes; I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. Indeed, such information has already been sent to all parts of the United Kingdom. Under the directions that we have established for the new opportunities fund, we have insisted that it ensures a fair geographical spread of the moneys that it makes available.